November 1, 2016. Posted by Corey Goldberg.

It's not often that a host gets to be a guest on their own program, but this Singers Unlimited session honoring the songbook of Dave and Iola Brubeck is a special event. Michael Bourne takes a turn as an interviewee along with the composer's son, bassist and trombonist Chris Brubeck, singer Hilary Kole, and pianist Adam Birnbaum as Gary Walker guides us through stories and performances captured in our studio - a taste of what's to come this Sunday, November 6th at NJPAC at 3pm.

October 31, 2016. Posted by David Tallacksen.

In the heart of the Ironbound section of Newark, in an old brick factory building, sits the Shifman Mattress Company. Shifman has been making mattresses by hand at that location for the past 123 years.

The work of hand-stitching mattresses is physically challenging, but many employees are loyal to the company and stay for decades.

Two of those employees are Bina Lourenco and Margaret Pereira. They're sisters who were born and raised on a farm in their native Portugal. They emigrated to the US two years apart from one another, more than 30 years ago. They've been working at Shifman in the sewing department for nearly as long.

Over a break at the factory, Bina and Margaret remember how they came to Newark, their work at Shifman, and what a difference a sister can make.

October 27, 2016. Posted by David Tallacksen.

The history of Newark is full of stories of the many housing projects that came to define the city. It's actually where the city got it's beloved nickname -- Brick City. Most of the projects are now a distant memory, either torn down or boarded up and abandoned. However, the people and the stories remain engrained in the fabric of the city.

Dwight Washington is one of those people. He grew up in Baxter Terrace, one of the first housing projects -- not just in Newark, but in the country. Built in 1941, BT was at one point the height of WC housing in Newark. It became so much a part of housing history in this country that several parts of the original structure are now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

This is Dwight Washington's story of what life was like in the now infamous housing projects known as Baxter Terrace.

October 27, 2016

There may be no better place than New Orleans to explore the ties of family and tradition in jazz. This episode of Jazz Night in America visits the Crescent City to hear two local musical giants: singer John Boutté and drummer Shannon Powell. The video documentary presents highlights from their shared concert at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz and Heritage Center, while the radio episode also spends time with each of them at their homes, tracing their familial roots and exploring why they've chosen to stay local.

Powell was born and raised in Treme, one of the U.S.'s oldest black neighborhoods. He took us down the street to his church, where he grew up with a tambourine in one hand and a Bible in the other. For Powell, the church has always been a place where music and the Holy Spirit are one and the same.

Boutté, too, says he's Treme to the bone; his large Creole-Catholic family goes back generations in New Orleans. He, like Powell, grew up playing music in the church. Though he went to college for business, he returned to his musical roots when he realized that the human voice was powerful enough to move people to tears of joy or pain.

Boutté and Powell capture the essence of this music and this city as only two natives can. Each man displays that particularly New Orleans sense of pride and swagger, rooted in the church and combined with a deep sense of family, musical and cultural history.